Introduction new member

[Strideplayer]

For starters, I'm older than dirt, a self taught piano player, long time US citizen, originally from the Netherlands. Most of my playing over the years has been with small groups, Shakey's pizza parlors, a banjo band, some non-famous trad jazz bands, in the Twin Cities and later in the Seattle area. My last gig was four years with a dixieland jazz band in the Phoenix/Scottsdale area.

I owned a Hammond spinet (M-102) for awhile, and I dabble at playing rhythm guitar but, sadly, didn't develop the latter. Musically, I live in the past. I play by ear. I do not read music. I listened to the popular piano players of my era, and I learned to like barrelhouse style on out of tune pianos, after listening to the likes of Crazy Otto, Joe Fingers Carr and Winnifred Atwell.

I've been retired for quite some time. I have a Yamaha P-90 which I play most every day. But, age is catching up with me. I used to play stride style piano. But my left hand ain't what it used to be.  So I've recently started studying arranger keyboards.

My big question - can I, at age 88, still learn the OS and complexities of an arranger keyboard like a PSR, a Genos, or a Korg? I am a big fan of Peter Baartmans, as well as the German Alois Müller, who plays and demonstrates both the Genos and the Pa5x every day with a new sample. Unfortunately, unlike in Europe, I find that, especially in the Southwestern US, I haven't been able to find a Genos or a Pa5x to try out. Or a PSR-SX900. Although 61 keys seems to me like playing piano while handcuffed. 76 keys, maybe.

I hope that, by joining this forum, I may learn enough to make a decision and acquire an arranger keyboard. Then comes the learning and fun part.

Strideplayer

[Roger Brenizer]

Hi Ed,

Welcome to the forum and thank you for becoming a member.  Please post your questions in an appropriate forum board and I'm certain our members will be responsive and helpful to your queries.

You'll want to be sure to visit the Home page and check out some of the tutorials you will find links to there.  The following link will take you to the Home page of the website:

https://psrtutorial.com/

Should you later decide to become a supporting member, which will include lifetime membership, other forum boards will become available to you, as well as a wealth of additional musical knowledge; however, there is absolutely no obligation to do so.  You may also use the following link to discover the full benefit of becoming a Supporting Member of the PSR Tutorial.

https://www.psrtutorial.com/forum/index.php/topic,15536.0.html

You'll also gain access to an Excel Song Index database, made available to supporting members by our good friend, Peter (XeeniX) and maintained by another good friend, Runner4Fun, which presently contains 107,570 song titles in 2,810 indexed books.  This index is updated often.

In lieu of making a donation only, you may also order any of the websites resources, which can be found at the following link:

https://psrtutorial.com/cdrom/productsum.html

Joe Waters updated "Supporting the PSR Tutorial", on August 27, 2017, which can be found here:

https://psrtutorial.com/cdrom/index.html

We're so glad you've decided to become a member and very happy you've decided to become a part of this great forum family.  If you have any questions, then please just ask.  Many of our members are always very willing to help you.

[mikf]

Ed
Welcome. You will find that the knowledge of the arranger OS needed to play is not hugely demanding. Once you delve deeper into functionality it can be a bit intricate but there are plenty of people here to help straighten you out. That's the main function of this forum.
Mike

[Graham UK]

Strideplayer. With your experience being a piano player you should not have a problem playing an arranger.
Yamaha produce a few 76 key arrangers.
Apart from help from this forum there are also many YouTube Tutorials.

Here's on example.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGJ0DVO1Fyc

[mikf]

Another great choice for the piano player wishing to have most of the arranger capability is the DGX670. Probably more available than Genos or SX and the price is great.
Mike

[overover]

Welcome to the PSR Tutorial Forum, Strideplayer! And thank you for the detailed words about yourself.


All the best from Germany,
Chris

[Graham UK]

Due to health reasons I sold my Twinset Tyros 76 + NP30.
After a couple of months I was missing having keys, so I purchased DGX670.88 Weighted Keybed is excellent to play and the voice samples are also very good.
All for a bargain price £799 UK.

[Strideplayer]

Wow. The DGX670.88 weighs 47lbs, or ten lbs heavier than my P-90. I recently had my piano serviced and I admit that this old man had one heck of a time getting it in the car and out to the shop. Weight wise the Genos would be the best option. But at present I am a wee bit leary to just plunk down six grand for sight unseen. Sort of like acquiring a mail order bride. I do appreciate the recent inputs.
Regards,
Strideplayer

[mikf]

Unfortunately to get 88 keys with quality piano feel adds a lot of weight. No way round that. Be aware that the Genos has 76 keys but they are not weighted and feel more like accordion than piano - as do most of these portable arrangers.
Mike